The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1887-04-13
MEXICAN BRIDALs.
The Costly Ceremonies Observed at the
Expense of the Happy Groom

The Costly Ceremonies Observed at the
Expense of the Happy Groom.
The wonder is that anybody ever
gets married in Mexico! Not only are
there the dangers and difficulties of sab
rosa counting, but matrimony means the
expenditure of a great deal OF money.
According to the time-hOnOred customs
of the country, the prospective groom
must furnish home fully equipped for
housekeeping before the wedding day,
and must purchase all the brides tros-
seau. Not a word is said about the
dowry until at the civil ceremony, when
agreements are drawn up as to how
much will be the wife's portion on the
death of her parents, for until their de-
mise she will receive absolutely nothing.
Even the white satin boots and the lin
gerie which she wears to the altar are
gifts of the groom, every article of APP
parel she has previously owned being
returned to her family.
The groom is also expected to make
gifts to the bridesmaids, the brides rel
atives and to all immediate friends, be-
sides defraying the expenses OF the
wedding feast and subsequent festivi-
ties. And the old Spanish fashion is
still sometimes INDUCED in by modern
dons-of equal pride though far less
wealthy than their titled ancestors
during the ride from church when first
made happy benedicts, or later from
the balcony of the cOnnubial casa, to
scatter coin among the cheering and
scrambling pOpulace, as a farmer SoWS
his grain.
Notwithstanding all the passionate
love-making of the Mexican Juliets, L
am sorry to say that most of them are
sad firts. Itfrequently happens that
girl has two or three admirers, who are
all playing the bear" to her Gas their
peculiar style of outdoor counting is
calIed) at the same time. If they
chance to meet outside her windOw-as
they are pretty sure to do, each being
so constant in his attendance ute1a
Qaaere U?"-''Whom do you wish to
see?" If the answer indicates the
same object, one will request the other
to step aside, urging prior claims, etc.
If he refuses, duel follows, and the
poor girl is bound by etiquette to relin-
ouish them both. But in their blind
and Jealous rage the rival Romeos are
quite as likely to settle the matter then
and there with ever-present daggers or
pistols; and-tragic though the end
may be-she who can boast the greatest
numbered such mementos for her sake
is pre-eminently the belle.
Despite the rigid seclusion in which
these fair Mexicanas are kept, elope-
ments are not unknown-but Mexican
elopement is not like any other under
the sun. Perchance some devoted
Romeo has been assiduously spark
ing''-at long range, so to speak, out
side his Juliet's window, for year, five
years-even fifteen years, as l am told
is sometimes the case; if, after all that
expenditure of time, patience and guitar
playing, he is at last rejected by the OBJ
durate parents, he can go to the nearest
Jefe PoLittco and swear out a notice to
the effect that the girls happiness and
his owned is ruined by the fathers
heartlessness; and if he can induce the
official to believe it (by offering suffi-
cient bonus), he secures warrant,
which empowers him to take the damsel
bodily from her parents home.-FG1s-
ME B. Ward, IN MiEtO0atbee Sentinel.